Shipments of hydrogen fuel cells grew by more than 40 percent last year as proponents of the technology worked to establish it alongside lithium-ion batteries as a way to remove pollution from transportation.

Companies delivered about 1,100 megawatts of hydrogen fuel cells in 2019, up from 806 megawatts in 2018, according to a report from energy consultant E4tech. The growth follows moves by major industrial and manufacturing companies to invest in hydrogen as a way to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.

"For heavy-duty vehicles, it's becoming more and more apparent you can't do everything with batteries and there needs to be a way to approach zero-emission driving," said David Hart, a director at E4tech, which is based in Lausanne, Switzerland.